


41 Degrees Southwest

by Heartwing



Category: Hockey RPF, due South
Genre: Dallas Stars, Hockey AU, M/M, awkward Canadian love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4728575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartwing/pseuds/Heartwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray Vecchio is traded to the Dallas Stars and Jamie Benn can't stop looking at the new guy and his Don Cherry-like suites.</p><p>No Due South knowledge needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	41 Degrees Southwest

**Author's Note:**

> No due South knowledge is needed, but I highly recommend the show. All the episodes can be found on youtube. 
> 
>  
> 
> Written for seascribe on tumblr

Jamie's first impression is that the new guy has an interesting fashion sense. Eccentric would be a better term. Jamie wonders if he has the same tailor as Don Cherry. They have similar tastes, by the looks of it. 

They introduce themselves, Vecchio grins and winks while Jamie tries not to blush. He hates how easily his face reddens. Vecchio doesn't laugh, like Tyler does. He just tells Jamie he should add more color to his suits. Jamie privately disagrees. He likes his quiet grays and blacks. 

\---

Jamie finds himself reluctantly fascinated by Ray. His wardrobe matches his personality-loud, garish, but friendly. Jamie thinks he matches his owns suits too-boring and safe. 

\---

Ray, Sharpy, and Tyler strike up a quick friendship, connected by their love of pranks and terrible flirting. Ray doesn't forget about Jamie though. Jamie receives the small private smiles, the stories about his family, and the winks when Ray uses his cheesiest lines on him. Jamie doesn't think about how nobody else gets winks. 

\---

Their home opener, their first game of the season, is against Las Vegas. Ray had just been traded from the Aces after two seasons there. When Jamie asks Ray how he was feeling before puck drop, Ray smiles and says he's already feeling more at home in Dallas than he ever did in Vegas. 

It's a hard hitting game against the Aces, who Jamie already feels a rivalry against developing after just two years in the league. There's a lot of tension building that doesn't break until the middle of the second period when Tyler gets boarded by an elbow in the back. 

Ray is the first one there, grabbing the Aces player and shoving him hard. Jamie stops to check on Tyler and looks up just in time to see the gloves flying off. 

The Aces player- Zuko, Jamie reads on his back, only gets one good punch in before Ray finishes the fight. 

Rays face is fierce and proud as he's escorted to the box to the roaring of the crowd. Jamie can only stare until Sharpy nudges him. Jamie's glad his face is already flushed from the ice. 

They win the game 6-2. Jamie gets two goals, both from Ray's passes. 

\---

Jamie doesn't really like parties that much. It's fine when it's just his team, it's fine when it includes their families, but after game parties in bars are not that fun, and he doesn't even have the excuse of a family to tap out like the older guys do. It got easier when Tyler was traded, because Tyler would drag Jamie around and do most of the chatting for him. Which is fine, helpful even, but sometimes Jamie just wants to sit in a corner and watch his team have fun. Jamie's just a little shy and a little awkward with strangers. He hates it. 

That, of course, is where Ray finds him. Jamie resigns himself dragged back out; to go chat to girls he's not even into. Ray, however, just flops into the booth next to him and starts talking about the newest thing his sister Francesca decided she wants to learn about. Jamie relaxes into the story and tries not to notice the warmth of Ray's thigh pressing against his until Jordie takes pity on Jamie and takes him home. 

\---

Jordie asks him about Ray, halfway through the season. Jamie hadn't realized how much he looked to Ray until Jordie points it out, to Jamie's mortification. Jordie's convinced that Ray looks at Jamie just as much but Jamie tells him to mind is own business. 

He notices more after that. Ray's softest smiles are reserved only for Jamie. They share quiet stories on the road. Ray always manages to snag the seat next to Jamie. He still hasn't winked at anyone else, and though he still flirts some with Tyler and Sharpy, it's far less than it used to be. His awful lines still make Jamie blush though. Jamie notices, but doesn't think about any of it. 

\---

The first time the Stars play Chicago, it's an away game. They arrive the day before, and Ray invites Jamie to tag along to dinner with Sharpy and some Hawks players. Jamie had forgotten that Ray played in Chicago for a long time before being traded to Vegas. 

It's a pleasant dinner, with the Hawks' Captain Fraser, Alternate Toews, who Jamie knew from the Olympics, and defensemen Huey and Dewey. As always, Fraser is politely Canadian, while Huey and Dewey treat everyone to their new stand-up routine. 

\--- 

The early afternoon game is tough, as it usually is against coach Welsh and the Blackhawks, but not dirty, and the Stars manage to grab a win in overtime. They're not leaving until the next morning, and after the game Ray catches Jamie's arm and tells him they've been ordered to the Vecchio house for dinner. 

It's... chaos. The Vecchios, Jamie notes, seem to communicate mostly by yelling. Jamie can see where Ray gets his strong on-ice personality from. But everyone is nice to Jamie, if less so to each other, and Jamie also meets Francesca's fiancé, Renfield, a Canadian curling player. 

Dinner is a loud, friendlier affair with great food. Ray is as at home here as he is on the ice. He balances a niece on his lap as he debates the Bears' chances with his brother, smiling softly at Jamie every so often. Jamie doesn't think about how good Ray looks.  
After dinner, Francesca pulls Jamie aside to talk to him. "Look," she says, "Ray likes you. A lot. And he's an idiot but he's my brother so I'll knock your teeth out if you hurt him."

Jamie would never admit it, but he's more than a little afraid of this hundred and fifty pound woman.

\---

He thinks a lot, about what Jordie and Franny both have told him about Ray. About Ray's flirting, his smiles, his warm thigh pressed against Jamie's when they hide in a booth. About how Ray looks when he's with his family, or even when he's just talking about them. About how good Ray is with kids. And about Ray's gaudy suits. 

\----

They make the playoffs. A wildcard spot, thanks to the Panthers beating the Aces in regulation. Jamie's watching the game at Ray's house. When the final buzzer sounds, they both jump off the couch. Ray turns to Jamie, grabs his face and kisses him. 

It goes silent in Jamie's head, except for the pounding of his heart. Ray freezes, and pulls off. "Jamie," he starts, but Jamie grabs him and kisses him back. "Oh," Ray says. "Yea," Jamie agrees. 

\---  
They don't win the cup that year. But that's okay, because there's always next year.


End file.
